Characteristic of Intelligent Behavior

Med/560Secondary Teaching Methods

Celinda Bauer

“Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.”

Dee Hock, Teacher

Definition of Characteristics of Intelligent Behavior taken from Ebook, Secondary School Teaching 4E, Chapter 3

Finding Humor• “Humor liberates creativity and provides

high-level thinking skills such as anticipation, finding novel relationships, and visual imagery”

• “The acquisition of a sense of humor follows a developmental sequence similar to that described by Piaget (1972) and Kohlberg (1981)”

• “Initially, young children and immature adolescents (and some immature adults) may find humor in all the wrong things—human frailty, ethnic humor, sacrilegious riddles, and ribald profanities”

• “Later, creative young people thrive on finding incongruity and demonstrate a whimsical frame of mind during problem solving”

Finding Humor• Example of characteristic– During a period on politics, show a montage of funny

political bloopers—show the candidates are human!• How to support this characteristic in your

classroom– Ask students to bring in humorous stories about the

subject you are teaching– Have students write limericks or puns as part of their

assignments and have them read them to the class– Use exaggerated facial expressions and vocal

inflections to draw students into your lesson

Creating, Imaging and Innovating• “All students must be encouraged

to do and discouraged from saying “I can’t”

• “Students must be taught in such a way as to encourage intrinsic motivation rather than reliance on extrinsic sources”

• “Teachers must be able to offer criticism in a way that the student understands the criticism is not a criticism of self”

• “In exemplary educational programs, students learn the value of feedback. They also learn the value of their own intuition, of guessing—they learn “I can”

Creating, Imaging and Innovating

• Example of characteristic– Students come up with a new or novel way to

remember a list of Spanish verbs• How to support this characteristic in your

classroom– Have students brainstorm, point out there are no bad

ideas– Lavish with praise, use mistakes as teaching tools – Give open ended questions that force the students to

create and imagine (opposite of rote memorization)

Listening with Understanding and Empathy

• “Some psychologists believe that the ability to listen to others, to empathize with and to understand their point of view, is one of the highest forms of intelligent behavior”

• “Empathic behavior, nearly the exact opposite of egoism, is an important skill for conflict resolution”

• “In class meetings, brainstorming sessions, people from various walks of life convene to share their thinking, explore their ideas, and broaden their perspectives by listening to the ideas and reactions of others”

Listening with Understanding and Empathy

• Example of characteristic– Student are paired off and tell each other about their

family and where they grew up. Each student gives a “history” lesson on the student the interviewed

• How to support this characteristic in your classroom– Assign written reports where students can put

themselves in others’ shoes i.e. report on slavery, Gulag survivors, etc.

– Play the old “telephone” game. Show students how often we don’t really listen

Persisting

• “Persistence is staying with a task until it is completed”• “People with an internal locus of control tend to show

persistence”

Persisting

• Example of characteristic– Student is given a touch problem and by persistence

realizes he or she can solve the problem• How to support this characteristic in your

classroom– Assign readings on famous people that achieved

great things through persistence– Let students handle tough task. Don’t be to quick to

step in and “rescue” the student– Prominently display a class motto i.e. “We can do it”

Remaining Open to Continuous Learning

• “Intelligent people are in a continuous learning mode, always eager to learn and find new ways”

Remaining Open to Continuous Learning

• Example of characteristic– Student realizes that you as a teacher still

continue to study and learn• How to support this characteristic in your

classroom– Help student realize that knowledge is doubling at

greater and greater speeds– Show new technology that wasn’t around when

they were in 1st grade—help them to imagine what will be available in the next 10 year

Responding With Wonderment and Awe

• “Young children express wonderment, an expression that should never be stifled”

• “Through effective teaching, students can recapture that sense of wonderment as an effective teacher guides them into a sense of “I can” and an expression of the feeling of “I enjoy”

Responding With Wonderment and Awe

• Example of characteristic– In astronomy class students are amazed by the size of the

universe and how small we are in the grand scheme of things

• How to support this characteristic in your classroom– Help students use all their senses when teaching a subject

i.e. history lesson salt, feel it, taste it, look at the different types of salt formation, smell it, understand it properties

– Read an emotional story on the subject you are teaching, get the students to tell you how it made them feel, place themselves in the story and tell what they would have done if they had been there, etc.

Striving for Accuracy

• Growth in this behavior is demonstrated when students take time to check their work, review the procedures, and hesitate to draw conclusions with only limited data.

Striving for Accuracy• Example of characteristic– Student completes a large math assignment without a

single error• How to support this characteristic in your

classroom– Teach the importance of accuracy with examples that

interest the students i.e. “a golf club swung one degree off of center, will drive the ball 8 feet off of target on a 200 yard drive.”

– Help students realize that there are consequences for errors i.e. points off on a test but that they should use mistakes as learning tools